Note 1 — Chapter XII
Reading edition
These laws were engraven on brass, and hung up in the most conspicuous part of the Forum.
[2]
They were, however, defeated, first by the consul Vale'rius, and next still more decisively by the consuls Quinc'tius and Fu'rius.
[3]
The duty of the censors, at first, was merely to perform the census, or numbering of the people. It was by degrees that they became Magistri Morum, or inspectors and regulators of men's lives and manners.
[4]
They appointed an extraordinary magistrate, under the title of superintendent of provisions, and the person named for this office, L. Minutius, an active and prudent man, immediately sent his agents into the neighbouring countries to buy corn; but little, however was procured, as Mælius had been beforehand with him. (Liv. l. iv. c. 13, 14.)
[5]
The guilt of Mæ'lius was never proved, and no arms were found when his house was searched. The charge of aiming at royalty is more than absurd; it is morally impossible. He seems to have aimed at opening the higher offices of state to the plebeians, and to have looked upon the consulship with too eager desire. He fell a sacrifice, to deter the plebeians from aiming at breaking up a patrician monopoly of power. It is painful to see Cincinna'tus, at the close of a long and illustrious life, countenancing, if not suggesting this wanton murder. But, as Niebuhr remarks, "no where have characters been more cruel, no where has the voice of conscience against the views of faction been so defied, as in the aristocratic republics, and not those of antiquity only. Men, otherwise of spotless conduct, have frequently shed the purest and noblest blood, influenced by fanaticism, and often without any resentment, in the service of party."
[6]
The account of the siege of Ve'ii is full of improbabilities, and the story of the mine is utterly impossible, for without a compass and a good plan of the city, such a work could not have been formed. That Ve'ii, however, was besieged and taken at this time is very certain, but that is the only part of the legend on which we can rely.
[7]
The as was a brass coin, about three farthings of our money.
[8]
This day was from henceforth marked as unlucky in their calendar, and called Allien'sis.
[9]
Among others, the Vestals fled from the city, carrying with them the two Palladiums and the sacred fire. They took shelter at Cære, a town of Etru'ria, where they continued to celebrate their religious rites; from this circumstance religious rites acquired the name of ceremonies.
[10]
This self-devotion was in consequence of a vow made by these brave old men, which Fa'bius, the Pontifex Maximus, pronounced in their names. The Romans believed that, by thus devoting themselves to the internal gods, disorder and confusion were brought among the enemy.
[11]
These were the footsteps of Pon'tius Comin'ius, who, with great prudence and bravery, found means to carry a message from Camil'lus to the Romans in the Capi'tol, and to return with the appointment of dictator for Camil'lus.
[12]
As a reward for this essential service, every soldier gave Man'lius a small quantity of corn and a little measure of wine, out of his scanty allowance; a present of no mean value in their then distressed situation. On the other hand, the captain of the guard, who ought to have kept the sentinels to their duty, was thrown headlong from the Capitol. In memory of this event, a goose was annually carried in triumph on a soft litter, finely adorned; whilst dogs were held in abhorrence, and were impaled every year on a branch of elder.
[13]
As the Gauls suffered the bodies of the Romans, who were slain in their frequent encounters, to lie unburied, the stench of their putrefaction occasioned a plague to break out, which carried off great numbers of the army of Brennus.
[14]
The authenticity of this narrative is more than suspicious. Polyb'ius, the most accurate of the Roman historians, says that the Gauls carried their old home with them. Sueto'nius confirms this account, and adds that it was recovered at a much later period from the Galli Seno'nes, by Liv'ius Dru'sus; and that on this occasion Dru'sus first became a name in the Livian family, in consequence of the victorious general having killed Drau'sus, the Gallic leader.
[15]
So little taste, however, for order and beauty, did those display who had the direction of the works, that the city, when rebuilt, was even less regular than in the time of Romulus.
[16]
This account appears so absurd as to be scarcely credible; in fact, Manlius was first tried by the "comitia centuriata," and acquitted. His second trial was before the "comitia curiata," where his enemies, the patricians, alone had the right of voting. See Introduction, Chap. III.
[17]
Some judicious writers, however, acknowledge that the chasm was afterwards filled up with earth and rubbish. (Livy, l. 7. c. 6. Val. Maximus, l. 5. c. 6. et alli.)